It's Monday - Find These Books!

             Visit Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts to see what they and others have been reading! Your TBR lists will grow! 

It's the Day before the election! Please vote if you haven't already! 

         I forgot to share this one last week, for Halloween. It can be for any other time, however, not just for Halloween.

Thanks to Candlewick for the copy!

       For readers, but on the younger side, this is a cute story about a witch with all the 'witchy' vocabulary to smile about. This young witch, Crimson, follows a different path. She doesn't wear a black hat, nor pointy shoes, and loves her polka dot dress instead of the usual black like everyone else. Instead of cackling, she giggles; instead of nightmares, she dreams! It's a clever story that supports being oneself regardless of the push to be like all the others. 

       I don't know if I should describe much of this book because I simply think you and everyone else should read it! Intertwined with a teacher who censors by blacking out a few words and phrases, a town who does it, too, through creating rules thought to make things "better" (think, no junk food), as well as family struggles and friendships strengthened through the context of reading Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic makes a compelling story.  Amy Sarig King writes that part is based on a happening in her own growing up. Don't miss this one!

       For a young girl, her beloved cat is her playmate. However, cats being what they are, this tale shows no matter the enthusiasm, the cat sits and looks, lies down and looks, does not "Fetch" or "Roll" or "Heel". It's a book for early readers and lots of repetition and laughs as Charles Ghigna offers the words for play and Michelle Hazelwood Hyde fills the pages with a young girl loving her cat, never mind it doesn't play the way she wishes. Lots of smiles happen when reading this tale, especially if you are a cat lover!

        Thanks to Schiffer Publishing Ltd. for the copy!

         It's an uplifting book by Marc Colagiovanni, one I imagine that could be read aloud with such enthusiasm to a group or to someone dear who needs advice in solving a problem or two. It's a new way to learn for anyone, young and old. It's time to lessen those doubts and worries, fears and frustrations, no matter how much they wish to grow! You can handle them if only you "go left". Peter H. Reynolds shows a young boy pondering all those things as he learns to leave the bags of doubts behind. The small creatures, like a suitcase of 'fears', scream "Don't do it!" and "Stop!" as he is about to attempt a high-dive. He "simply turned and gave them a wink" while climbing the ladder. It's a terrific book!

         Thanks to Scholastic for this Advanced Copy! This has a March pub date!  

Now reading:  Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine and I snagged a paperback of Hamnet which I haven't read, and will start soon!